Stuck in quicksand: what the FFA needs to do to revive Australian football

Despite some recent triumphs for Australian football on the global stage, we still have major problems here.

Aaron Mooy being named man of the match in Huddersfield Town’s Playoff Final victory against Sheffield Wednesday as well as Tom Rogic scoring the winning goal for Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final were truly pinch yourself type of moments. Moments that make other footballing nations sit up and take notice of us.

Yet unfortunately, they only serve as a fleeting victory for Australian football — a papering over the cracks of bigger problems bubbling below the surface.

While there is no doubt the the quality of the Hyundai A-league has drastically improved since its inception — evident by the gripping grand final between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory, football still seems to have little relevance in Australia’s overcrowded sports jungle.

In many ways, football has become a victim of innovation from its competitors. The AFL finally realised there was a gap in the market and commissioned the historic ‘AFL W’, while international cricket hierarchy eventually saw the light and figured that a fresh format of the game was needed to win back fans who had grown tired of the drab nature of test cricket — and so T20 was conceived.

The problem that Football Federation Australia (FFA) faces is that it can’t easily rejuvenate the game like other sports such as the AFL and cricket have been able to do — and when it’s had the chance, such as expanding or introducing promotion and relegation, its baulked at the chance.

The whole theory behind scheduling the majority of the A-League season in summer was that it was supposed to thrust the sport into the headlights. Move it to a place of sanctuary where it could not be bullied by its big brothers and watch it grow.

Clearly AFL CEO Gillon McGlaughlin saw fit to put out the the fire before it could spread — not that it has ever seriously looked like ravaging his territory.

Scenes of 25,000 fans packed into Ikon Park for the opening AFL W game — not to mention the masses locked out of the stadium would have surely made FFA CEO David Gallop tremble.

Not only was this crowd embarrassing the majority of crowds an average A-League game would attract, it was doing so in the heart of what was supposed to be the A-League’s time in the sun.

Fast forward to more recent times and the concerns about the A-Leagues pulling power remain.

As the season ticked along, we watched one of the great Australian sporting achievements as Sydney FC went through the entire season only losing one game on the way to winning the grand final.

The problem? Even this level of performance wasn’t enough to bring their fans through the turnstiles. Staggeringly, Sydney FC’s average crowd attendance was only 16,021 — just the seventh best in the club’s history.

It’s a sobering statistic for the head honchos at the FFA. If the league’s best-ever side can’t draw in a crowd of substance, then what hope do all the other sides besides Melbourne Victory and the Western Sydney Wanderers have?

More than anything, it appears the A-League is suffering from a crisis of identity. To get out of the quicksand the FFA finds itself in, they must radically transform the structure of the A-League.

The first thing on the agenda would be to expand the competition. This needs extremely careful consideration though. At this stage, the FFA cannot afford to have another publicity disaster like the North Queensland Fury or Gold Coast United.

The safest bet would be to put the new sides in a major city or a big regional town such as Geelong. South Melbourne are pushing hard for a license and they would be a good fit considering their already strong supporter base.

There is no doubt that European football thrives because of its tribal nature. Fans love derbies because they evoke passion.

It’s no coincidence that every year the three most anticipated A-League fixtures are: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, Victory vs Melbourne City and Sydney FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers

While growing the game in developing markets is a valid idea in theory, teams in more isolated areas don’t possess the ability to develop rivalries and draw in the fans who may be sitting on the fence between football and another sport like NRL. Just look at the Newcastle Jets for example who consistently struggle with crowd numbers.

The issue of relegation and promotion also needs to addressed as soon as possible. David Gallop has come out and said that the A-league isn’t ready for it and that the focus must be on improving the existing competition, but surely the gradual decline in the quality of our young players means the governing body needs to act now.

Many of the young players who do leave for Europe often come back quickly after bad experiences and little game time. These experiences often make it hard for them to come back and play well in the A-league straight away, so having a second division would be a perfect for them to recapture their confidence and form.

Moves have been made to bridge the gap between professional and semi-professional football such as the introduction of the FFA Cup, but promotion and relegation and a second division would provide more opportunities for footballers to make it to the professional ranks.

Socceroos manager Ange Postecoglou has been critical of the FFA’s conservative approach and believes expansion is crucial for providing future generations with an opportunity to flourish. “The undeniable fact is, that we’ve got more kids playing the game than we’ve ever had, and the reality of it is we have less opportunities than we’ve ever had.”

It is clear the current methods of youth development are not working. The Olyroos have failed to qualify for the last two Olympics.

Former Socceroo Robbie Slater was scathing in his assessment of the current allocation of resources. “We spend a massive amount of money on developing our young players and sending them around the world and more often then not, it ends in massive failure”.

The development (or lack thereof) of our youth has no doubt contributed to the struggles we have so far endured in this World Cup qualifying campaign.

With three games to play, we sit third in our group, three points behind Japan and Saudi Arabia — who we play on Thurday night. Lose to the Saudi’s and its virtually guaranteed we will have to play in a playoff game to make the world cup like we did back in 2006.

Although players like Aaron Mooy, Tom Rogic, Matthew Leckie and Jackson Irvine are entering their prime now, it seems there are few others that are demanding a spot in the starting line-up for Russia.

Generational change has taken place but results so far have yet to convince that we have the talent to improve on our last World Cup performance.

While failing to qualify for the World Cup would be a major disappointment, the silver lining might be that the FFA gives Australian Football the shake up that it so desperately needs.

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